After a month or two break, I have found that I have a
backlog of recipes that I want to post.
I am going to start with something that I have never made until about two weeks ago. Which is somewhat contrary to my stated aim for this blog of posting family favourites. But I think I should be forgiven when it comes to elderflower cordial.
As with all good recipes, first collect your elderflowers.
At this time of year they hang tauntingly over pretty much ever fence and
hedgerow. In our south London suburb they all seemed to be just out of my reach. So the
task of collecting around 25 large heads of elderflower, mainly in flower or in
bud but not yellowing, involved me going out on a sunny morning, putting the roof down on my car, parking under a suitable tree and standing on tiptoes on the back of the car then hooking down the best looking flower heads. It was subsequently pointed out to me that my cool, urban women about town reputation was destroyed as various neighbours drove past as I was doing this.
I read about six
different recipes for elder flower cordial and was amazed by the different amounts of sugar they
suggested. From 250 grams to 2 kilos for basically the same amount of flowers
and water. I suspect the difference in the end result is largely the thickness
of the concentrate but I used 250 grams and I wouldn't want it any sweeter.
Strip the flowers from the storks and carefully removed any insects. Next pour about 2 litres of just boiled water over the flower heads and leave it overnight. The next day I used muslin to filter the liquid from the flowers, added the juice of two lemons and 250 grams of caster sugar and boiled for a couple of minutes, before allowing it to cool and bottling the cordial.
It was as easy as that and resulted in a cordial that everyone loves. It will keep for a few weeks but also freezes well.
Good to see you back here!
ReplyDeleteI've not yet made elderflower cordial this year, but I took the last bottle from the freezer to make up for a group of French friends who I'd been trying to explain it to; they didn't seem to know anything about the flowers used like this, you certainly don't see any commercial drinks made from it here, though rose and violet syrups are available. They were gratifyingly impressed with the flavour so now I have to translate the recipe! The one I use is based on a Readers Digest cookery book one, I posted it on my blog here
http://box-elder.blogspot.fr/2008/06/catching-up.html
(ignore the waffle in the first section) I also did a version with some rose petals in, but it wasn't really so good, the rose rather eclipsed the elder.
http://box-elder.blogspot.fr/2011/06/elder-still.html
Joe left a comment on that post, rather sad because the garden people had cut down an elder tree he liked.
It does take a rather shocking amount of sugar doesn't it? I do find that citric acid is necessary, to offset the sweetness and also to preserve it, though I suppose if you use less sugar and boil it... I shall try your recipe and see.
It's also rather good with white wine as a kind of kir.
Anyway, I'm sure your clambering about foraging antics can only enhance your standing in the neighbourhood!
I remember Joe talking about the loss the elder bush too. We both agreed that not only are they unobtrusive bushes with beautiful flowers that are so useful. Cutting them down should not be allowed. the Elder Kir sounds like its worth a try, but we have used most of ours already just with sparling water. I will stock up on bottles for next year and make a bigger batch.
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